My Travel Notes: Baguio City

My little nook for a second in PMA Baguio

I wish my family and I could have spent more days in Baguio. With this trip, we were only able to do a few things, at our leisurely pace, of course. We have allotted 4 days in this trip but since Baguio is far from where we are, the commute each way can easily eat up one day.

But before I continue on this woeful afterthought, let me share a summary of our brief experience in the summer capital of the Philippines. It won't be a string of disappointments and regrets, I promise. Because even if we were hard pressed with time, it was one of those few instances in our lives, that we get to bond as a family outside the comforts of home.

Our Brief Affair with Baguio's Food

A sensory overload salad in Cafe by the Ruins

I have this high expectation set for the food scene in Baguio. The excitement I have for their local dishes. Ingredients, fresh as they can be. Baguio is near the source after all. If I can find Baguio's produce in Cebu's markets quite decent enough. How much more there? For vegetables that can only survive in cold places, the rest of the country mainly rely on the farms in the highlands. Don't get me started with fruits! Strawberries and oranges anyone?

But when I was actually there, it didn't exactly pan out the way I have imagined. It was like there's this needle pinching my bubble of ideal fantasies. But hey, nothing works out perfectly all the time right? Fantasies are in fact, only fantasies to begin with.

What am I talking about, really? The above salad is a total disconnect from this feeble issue.

Super Typhoon Haiyan, The Aftermath

Sunrise at home, 2 weeks after Haiyan.

My family lives in a quiet and very parochial town in the Northern part of Cebu. Oftentimes, people don't recognize the town's name and oftentimes consequently, I resort to mention that my town is located before the city of Bogo. Not to drag on one's confusion, he or she may just nod and feign or otherwise, that he or she totally gets me. I don't get offended by this, really. Somehow, it comforts me to know that I can still detach myself from the chaos and cocoon to this secret place where nobody seems to know.

With the recent super typhoon however, Tabogon has made its way to the news, though it is collectively mentioned as part of Northern Cebu. Not that it even matters. I'd rather have my town retain its unpopularity in this case.

Two weeks into the recovery from Haiyan, I flew from Singapore to my hometown. Given that it was only for the weekend, I knew I won't be doing much but I felt that I just had to be there. To be home with my family.